MAURIZIO GAUDINO

Born:	12/12 1966
Height: 6`1" (185cm)
Weight: 12st. 8lb (79kg)
Pos:	Midfield
Record:	20 matches 3 goals for City
Clubs:	Vfb Stuttgart, Waldhof Mannheim, TSG Rheinau, Eintracht Frankfurt

Gaudino was born in Germany of Italian parents and grew up in Rheinau which is near Frankfurt. He thus learnt his trade in Germany, playing for Waldhof together with Jürgen Kohler and Guido Buchwald. He then moved on to Stuttgart, winning a league title in 1992. During these years he got himself a reputation as a bit of a rich brat, running around at the age of 21 in his Ferrari and generally getting up the noses of the rather austere local Swabians.

He moved to Eintracht Frankfurt in 1993 and had great success as part of a midfield/striker combination called the 'magic triangle' whose other two members were Uwe Bein and Yeboah, the latter now of course with Leeds United. Eintracht were top of the league for 12 weeks, all of which eventually resulted in Gaudino playing several games for Germany and coming on as a substitute in the '94 World Cup. Luckily his on-field development was also paralleled by off-field development!

Bad times arrived in April '94 when Eintracht sacked their captain and goalie Uli Stein. In a team talk, Gaudino was the only one to speak up for Stein and from then on felt at odds with the management; it then seemed he would move to Kaiserslautern but Eintracht blocked the move. There is something of the martyr in him and this situation affected his post World Cup form and was further compounded by his failure to hit it off with Eintracht's new manager, Jupp Heynckes. Things boiled over in December when Gaudino and Yeboah refused to play against Hamburg. This led to his suspension from the club and eventually to his loan to Manchester City.

Gaudino is an excellent footballer, technically brilliant but lacking a little in the running/fighting department. When he's in the mood however, the opposition had better watch out!